Porn actress' HIV result shows need for condom mandate, critics say

Some critics of the adult film industry are pointing to the latest HIV scare as further evidence that condoms should be required on set.

The Free Speech Coalition, a Canoga Park-based trade organization for the adult film industry, said Thursday that a 28-year-old actress who uses the screen name Cameron Bay tested conclusively positive for HIV.

The adult industry has maintained that mandating condoms on set, as the city and county of Los Angeles now do, harms their business and is unnecessary because performers undergo regular testing.

"The industry's testing-only policy has failed," Hall said in a statement. "Short of requiring condoms in all adult films, this type of tragedy will continue, and California workers will continue to be exposed to injury, harm and potentially death."

Mark Schechter, owner of Adult Talent Managers L.A., which represents Bay, told The Times that she went in for a regular screening for sexually transmitted diseases a week ago and that the results came back inconclusive. She had a second test Tuesday with a new blood sample. Preliminary results came back Wednesday as potentially positive for HIV.

The Free Speech Coalition said Thursday that separate tests by Cutting Edge Testing and Talent Testing Services confirmed the result.

Bay's latest test before last week took place July 27 and was negative, Schechter said, and she had done shoots since then.

Schechter said Bay was "distraught" but was cooperating with medical personnel to make sure her partners were notified as quickly as possible.

The Free Speech Coalition, which called for an industry-wide moratorium on film production in the wake of Bay's positive test result, said the suspension would remain in place until all of Bay's sexual partners have been tested and cleared.